What Have You Done To Your 3rd Gen Today?

Bunch of yobbos!

One reason I have refrained from buying one here in AZ where usual weather is sunny/hot. AZ drivers are also insane and the number of wrong-way drivers on the freeways reported every week is appalling.

 

I follow a guy on Snapchat named Alex Choi, the number of major accidents and people trashed behind the wheel he finds every night is absolutely mental. Like stumbling after crashes or fully unconscious at red lights. He’s LA based so I know there’s a population aspect to it but to my Canadian brain it’s incredibly mind blowing.

 

How often do you change your accessories or drive belt? I am under the impression that excellent belt tension is a key factor in maintaining your electrical system. Still running the original alternator on a 18 year old Corolla w/ 200,000 miles; however, I change the belt every 30-50,000 or 4 years, whichever comes first.

 

Someone else was talking about buying one in another thread a few days back. I'll bet it's a lot of fun when it's working right. 370hp and 330tq is decent for these 3rd gens.

 

New tires - 255/85/R16
Pizza Pizza

 

Looks great, I wanna run 255's but I can't find anything other than load range E and I don't need that on my taco.

 

Thanks! These are load range C. Falken Wildpeak A/T4W. Found them on a Memorial Day sale.

 

What sold me is they had a sc taco there at the shop, the owner of the truck let me take it for a spin, it was incredible

 

Brand new to the forum here. I had Falken Wildpeak A/T Trail tires on my Escape and really enjoyed them. Those were technically a cross-over specific tire but I plan to get these for my new '16 DCBOR

 

Welcome to TW...

Is your DC?BOR a LB(long bed) or SB(short bed)?? missing the L(long) or S(short) in your description... lol

 

Welcome and congrats on the new whip! I had the AT3’s on my 2nd gen and loved them so hoping the same for these.

 

I only replace a belt when it shows sign of getting old, usually cracks in the small ribs. Just inspect it every oil change after 60k mi. Belt tension has little to do with belt replacing, maybe the belt stretches just a bit when new during break in, but then I think it is totally stable for life. Plus the tensioner is responsible for belt tension, as long as the belt length is in spec. I also firmly believe that a loose belt would not in any way shorten the life of the alternator. From the perspective of the alternator, A loose belt is simply the same as running fewer RPMs. While the belt is loose, the alternator output will be temporarily reduced, but tighten that belt and it is restored. Loose belts will quickly destroy the belt though, from wear and heat at any pulley that is slipping. I have had issues with belt tension, but it was that the tensioner travel was restricted by all the mess of operating in the salt belt. Road grime, salt and corroded steel and aluminum, limited the tensioner travel, such that it no longer maintained proper tension. Again, being my own vehicle, I freed it up with copious amounts of lube (T-9 for this), and aggressive wrenching back and forth till it was free; and that tensioner is still going today. I do have a new one on hand for replacing the next time.

Alternator life is clearly shortened by exposure to moisture. Storing under over or being run often, wards off moisture damage, but sitting outdoors in humid climate or in road salt, definitely takes life out of an alternator. Betting sandy/dirty environments also beat on it.

The only thing that I know about alternator life that may surprise some, is that I discovered that parking the truck at certain angles, allows water captured by the hood, to be directed to a corner of the fake scoop, where it leaks inside and runs/drips directly on the alternator. I had water collecting in the bed of my winter truck (during summer) when I only drive it once every week or two. The bed has drain holes, but enough tree droppings around to keep clogging the holes; so I parked is slightly nose high, to keep the bed from filling. Seized the alternator, smoked the belt till it broke, right there in the driveway. Also interesting is that i freed that alternator with a big wrench, bathed the alternator in WD-40 including with a tube in an attempt to get to the bearings, and that alternator worked for more than a year with adjusting how I parked the truck. When it failed again, it seized again, and was replaced. Note that this failure was from road salt and having parked in the way described. The 09 with 135k mi, is on its third alternator. I do not remember why it needed replacing the first time. BTW, the seizure does not appear to be at the bearing/bushing/axle, but was clearly from rust expansion of the rotating mass of the alternator, to a point where it was rubbing or stuck within its surroundings. It has been way too long since i opened up an alternator, so I am not clear on the details, but this explains how it worked fine for so long after the first seizure. I would not expect a bearing failure to recover from a seizure, with just a little WD-40.

 

New magnetic rod holder

 

Effing rust belt.. also why I rotate my pulleys backwards when the belt is off.

 

Reporting back - repair shop ended up straightening the right rear frame portion since everything else on the frame machine was fine, and of course replacing the bumper and hitch stuff. Total bill around $2700 since there was no sheet metal damage, perhaps thanks to my 1UP-USA bike rack (which insurance has replaced. Deductible will be refunded since other driver was !00% at fault.

Took a while mostly due to my schedule - having to be out of town to oversee a project M-F in recent weeks. Not sure if a Toyota dealership would've totaled it - I probably should've taken it there though the place I used has been great to deal with and the workmanship seems good. Though in a way I'm glad it wasn't totaled - while I'll likely move to a 4th gen, having my 2017 gives me flexibility to find or order exactly what I want vs. having to settle on something with a bunch of excess crapola.

Oh and since it may take a while to decide if/when to make a change, it was time to change out the front brake pads again (100k miles, ~1mm of pad surface). Frankly the 3rd gen are some of the easiest I've ever done. Remove a clip, slide out two pins (releasing a 2nd clip) and the pads are free to be removed/replaced.

 

Have the Trail Edition that does not come with fogs sooooo....today, I took care of that. Installed the Morimoto 4Bangers. Had to pull the bumper because when I installed the XB EVO's a few weeks back, I broke the clip that the bumper snaps into so I got that replaced too. Found an old Sasquatch switch that I had for the 4Runner so I used that for the time being. Also had the Morimoto fog harness which is super nice and its pre-wired with a relay nice weather proof case. Add a fuse to ign1 I believe is what I used. All in all pretty simple install, just very time consuming. Have about 7 hrs in this today. Now I just need to find something to fill the giant hole in the panel. Maybe a Auxbeam, not sure. Also need to pick up one of the daisy chain harness from TacomaBeast for the switch light. Right now, it only lights up when I turn them on. Excited to see how they compare to my old Baja Squadron Pro's that I had in the 4Runner.

 

And only 5500 rpm, was there more pedal left?

 

This was back in 2022 or early 2023 so I don't really remember but I do remember it started to float ALOT and that was about as fast as I felt comfortable at (not 100% comfortable lol)

 

Like a hydro-plane boat floats, just before, flipping end-to-end 3 times before re-entering the water?

 

How many mile? Contemplating doing mine.